A Food Show With 40,000 Auditions

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Published: June 25, 1997

JONATHAN KING, an owner of Stonewall Kitchen in York, Me., will arrive in Manhattan tomorrow for a six-day visit that will cost his company nearly $20,000. It's not a boondoggle but a trip to promote jams and spreads at the summer Fancy Food Show, a trade show for the kinds of products that line the shelves of high-end food markets.

''Even though it takes $50,000 in orders just to pay for the cost of attending the show, we think it's well worth it,'' Mr. King said, referring to the sales he must make to clear $20,000. His first appearance at the show two years ago resulted in an extra $85,000 in sales of roasted garlic and onion jam, Grand Marnier cranberry marmalade and strawberry and brandied apricot jam, among others. His company, which was founded in 1991, went from total annual sales of $650,000 in 1994 to what he estimates will be $8 million this year.

''The show is what turned our company from a small, local business with a few employees to a national one,'' he said. His products are now sold in 3,000 stores across the country, and the company's staff has grown to 50.

When the Fancy Food Show opens on Sunday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Stonewall Kitchen's preserves will be among the 40,000 or so foods on display, as manufacturers try to attract the attention of 36,000 buyers, retailers, importers, distributors, restaurateurs, journalists and chefs who will attend. The show, which is not open to the public, closes on Wednesday.

In a single day at the show, visitors can taste enough cheesecakes and chutneys to last a lifetime, eating their way through 50 tightly packed aisles of booths. Mouthfuls of a new chip and dip, sizzling peppered bacon or tropical sorbet usually alternate with sips of coffee, tea or bottled water. There is no pattern to the layout of the booths. Chipotles follow chocolates and vice versa.

Participants will have a chance to sample 770 kinds of olive oil, 792 teas, 920 mustards, 732 salsas and 504 biscotti, to name a few of the categories. Blood-orange-flavored olive oil, licorice tea, Dutch sugar-beet vinegar, seasoned French sea salt and edible napkin rings made of cookie dough are a few newcomers, along with chai, a sweetened spiced tea, and more products seasoned with garlic than ever before. Some new trends, like foods made with organic ingredients, are catching on.

''We're not about to run out of companies convinced that we want to try something new,'' said John Roberts, the president of the National Association of the Specialty Food Trade, the New York trade group that runs the show.

Though some consumers may shudder at the thought of yet another Vermont salsa or flavored pasta, in the long run, the show means more variety for retail shoppers. Without it, store owners outside the major cities would have a hard time finding out about many products.

And those who attend say it helps keep prices in line, because otherwise many manufacturers would have to depend on costly alternatives like advertising and a sales force.

''It's invaluable,'' said Giorgio DeLuca, a founding partner of Dean & DeLuca in SoHo, who has attended the show for nearly 20 years. ''You see new companies, new ideas and the direction the industry is taking. I still find new jewels, like a tamarind paste that was better than the one I was carrying.''

Steven Jenkins, a partner at Fairway on the Upper West Side, said big stores like his can help small producers by convincing distributors to take on the products they like. ''I don't know if we'd ever have Spanish sherry vinegar without the Fancy Food Show,'' he said.

This year's 1,100 exhibitors are all members of the association, which also runs a winter show in San Francisco. The group has 1,870 members, up from 290 20 years ago. A company must be in business at least a year to join and must carry liability insurance, which helps weed out fly-by-night companies or people who are baking cookies at home. Annual dues are $200 to $600.

Members must also produce foods or products, like gift baskets, that are usually not intended for the mass market. But there is a fine line, especially as supermarkets muscle in on fancy-food territory by stocking some high-end brands like Coach Farms cheeses and the Republic of Tea, which have exhibited at the show for years.

''We make mistakes,'' Mr. Roberts said. ''We turned down Wolfgang Puck's pizzas the first time they came to us. We thought frozen food was too mass-market.''

About 20 percent of the 100 or so companies that apply for membership are turned down, Mr. Roberts said, mainly because the organization does not believe they are large or sophisticated enough to handle the potential business.

This year, 150 companies will exhibit their wares for the first time. Among them is William Poll, a 75-year-old catering shop on the Upper East Side. Stanley Poll, the owner and a son of the founder, said that through friends and relatives, a few stores in New Mexico and Indiana had started carrying his dips and baked potato chips. For him, exhibiting at the show offers an opportunity to sell more. His 100-square-foot booth cost $1,750, and he estimated his expenses at $6,000.